More Anime...and Black KKKlansman

1. I'm continuing to stream anime on Netflix, which has a great collection, but apparently removes shows after a couple of months or years, replacing them with new series. This explains why a show I saw advertised on Netflix last year, suddenly is gone this year.

Anyhow...here's Geek.com's list of the best anime on Netflix.

In the olden days, getting access to anime was a tremendous pain in the ass. For every series that got dubbed and aired on American television, there were dozens if not hundreds more that only made their way over on quasi-legal videotapes or bootleg DVDs. Fans of Japanese animation learned to work around it, but the advent of fast, reliable streaming video changed everything.

Netflix’s initial anime offerings were pretty scarce, but they’ve noticed the demand is there and beefed up their selection considerably. Here’s our list of the absolute best series to watch.

This might change as the service gains the rights to new shows and loses the rights to others, so bookmark the page and come back often.

True. In the olden days, I had to comb the back shelves of many a video store to get my hands on anime. And it was a mixed bag, also not always in the best of conditions. I also made friends with comic book store and video store owners to get bootleg copies. That's how I saw Battle Royale, not anime, but a live action adaptation of a magna (note Kill Bill borrowed heavily from it, so too does Hunger Games and The 100, it predates all of them by about ten years.) Cowboy Beebop the Movie, Robotech, Voltron, Sailor Moon, Castle Calistroka, Akira ( I think I saw that in the movie theater though), Ghost in the Shell (and the sequel, there was a sequel), and a lot of others.

I'm loving Netflix. I also have Hulu, Adult Swim, and Amazon. Hee.

There's another list which mentions "The Devil is a Part-Timer". Right now, I'm watching Durarara!! which is amazing, I also think one of the people doing the vocal work is the same one voicing Melodious on Seven Deadly Sins. The art is closer to Cowboy Beebop and Harukami's anime. It takes place in a city, has various points of views, and about gangsters, high school students, a black russian sushi cook, and a headless Irish fairy hunting her head. Violent, but varied, with great art.
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2. Just saw Black KKKlansman by Spike Lee, starring Adam Driver, John David Washington, Topher Grace, Laura Harrier, and Michael Buscemi...with my movie buddy, cjlasky. This is an adaptation of the 2014 memoir by Ron Stallworth. Set in 1970s Colorado Springs, the plot follows the first African-American detective in the police department, who sets out to infiltrate and expose the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

Standouts? I went to Colorado College in the 1980s, so I really enjoyed the fact that the Colorado College Black Student Union is featured and they brought the Black Panther leader to speak.

( vague spoilers )

Standout performance by Adam Driver, who blew me away. I barely recognized him.

Anyhow, I recommend the film, but with the caveat that it is definitely a Spike Lee film and as a result a bit heavy-handed in places.